are used 13th/14th-gen Intel chips still a degradation risk after the 0x12B fix?

Question

My main rig runs a Core Ultra 7 265K and I'm happy with it, but I've been looking at a cheap second box for work. Used 14th-gen chips are going for almost nothing right now, which is tempting. What stops me is everything I read about the voltage degradation saga and the 0x12B microcode that was supposed to be the fix. From what I understand the microcode is out and Intel calls it handled, but does that make a used chip safe when you have no idea what it went through before you got it?

calibration_guy · Accepted Answer

The root cause was a clock-tree circuit pulling excess voltage at idle, which permanently degrades the chip. The 0x12B microcode stops further damage but can't give back what a chip already lost. With a used part you can't know its pre-fix history, and the two-year warranty on boxed 13600KF-14900KS parts gets messier secondhand. I've got two used 14th-gen boxes, one's fine, the other throws random crashes.

rgbwhenever · Answer

intel didn't slap a two-year warranty on those chips for fun, they know what happened. and good luck leaning on that warranty when you're the second owner of the thing.

toastycomponents · Answer

people always forget the chip is the cheap part. by the time you add a used board and DDR5 for it you might be near a new budget build anyway